Crash
by JazziePerson
Summary: A catastrophic event occurs offworld.


**Author's Note: **Hey guys. Long time no write. I've been super busy with College but I dreamt this up and couldn't ignore it. I hope you like it and please review.

**Crash**

"It's a beautiful planet," Sam commented, looking out at the planet beneath them. Testing out the new ships definitely had benefits. She and Colonel O'Neill were currently testing out the R&D Department's favourite project, a brand new ship, fighter jet sized. So as not to attract attention, they'd flown it through the gate and were currently flying over the uninhabited forests of P7J-499. Below them was a mass of green and brown, a world untouched by humans or Goa'uld for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.

"Eh," Jack shrugged, "lot of trees."

Sam snorted and tightened her harness. "Yes, sir."

They were silent for a moment before Daniel's voice crackled through their radios. "Sam, you really should see this when you get down."

Sam grinned. Daniel and Teal'c were on the planet with them. There were some interesting ruins that had Daniel fascinated and since the planet was uninhabited, it seemed as good a place as any to break the new ship in. Two birds. One stone. And Teal'c was Daniel's back up. They had a running joke that even after almost seven whole years of off-world exploration, Daniel still managed to lose himself in whatever he was studying. "What is it?"

"There's a device here. I don't know what it does but it looks... cool..."

Jack snorted.

Sam's smile widened. "Sounds good, Daniel. I'll have a look when we land."

"Okie doke. Daniel out." The crackling shut off.

"It looks 'cool'? Jack repeated dryly.

"You heard him, sir."

"Alright-y then, coming in to land." The Colonel began to ease the ship towards the ground.

They were still a good few thousand metres above the tree line when the hairs on the back of Sam's neck rose. Something wasn't right. She glanced around. Nothing. That was when the smell hit her. "Uh, sir?"

"Yes, Carter?"

"Do you smell that?" Sam's voice was distinctly concerned.

Jack inhaled deeply. "Smoke. Burning." He paused for a second as he connected the dots. "Shit."

Sam wrenched around in her seat. "Sir, we've got a problem."

"Talk to me, Carter." The journey was getting bumpy and Jack was finding it more and more difficult to keep the ship in the air.

"The engine's overheating. We've got seconds before the whole thing explodes."

"How many seconds?"

Sam didn't get a chance to answer that question. Just as she opened her mouth, the engine exploded as she said it would and sent them spinning through the air, tumbling over and over before smashing straight into the ground.

The first thing Sam was aware of was a massive headache. The throbbing originated at the back of her skull and had worked its way around the left side of her head, under her ear and down her neck. She tried to open her eyes but the light blinded her. She groaned.

"Sam?" She heard a voice calling her name.

It took an excruciatingly long time but finally Sam managed to prise her eyes open. Everything was blurred. She could hear voices but they were all drowned out by the loud buzzing inside her head. "What...?" She swallowed thickly. "What...?"

"Sam, hold still." Daniel's voice filtered through the ringing. "You're gonna be okay."

"Dan... Daniel?"

Daniel's face slowly came into focus. His eyes were wide, panicked but he was doing his best to smile at her. "Hey, there we go." He touched her arm. "You're going to be okay."

"What... happened?" Sam blinked as the rest of the world appeared. The glass front of the ship was missing, shattered, the pieces all around her. The trees around them had either been torn down or were burning quickly.

"The ship went down. A team's on their way to cut you and Jack out of here. Teal'c's meeting them at the gate. I'm afraid the metal's got twisted and I... we really don't want to risk pulling you guys out. You're hurt. Bad, Sam."

Sam tried to lift her arm to grip the side of the ship but it felt too heavy, too clumsy. "How bad, Daniel?" As her vision came back, so was awareness. Pain was beginning to creep through her body, making it harder to think straight.

"Uh," Daniel looked green just thinking about it. "I can't really tell... there's a lot of blood."

Sam inventoried her body quickly. There was pain in her head, right arm, chest, back and legs. As she tried to pull her legs free of the warped metal, pain seared upwards, all the way to her waist. She hissed and Daniel squeezed her left shoulder. It wasn't looking good. "The Colonel?"

"Here, Carter." Jack's voice was falsely chipper. Sam could hear the pained edge. He was still sitting in the seat in front of her, presumably still trapped too.

"Colonel?" Sam called down to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Fine and dandy."

Sam shared an unconvinced look with Daniel. "You said a team was coming...?"

"Any minute. Hold on."

"Yeah, well, it's getting kind of hot in here." Sam's shaken brain took a few more seconds to put the pieces together. "You haven't put the fire out?"

"Going to find water will take longer than waiting for the team to arrive. Any minute now."

Jack decided to throw his two cents in. "You said that a minute ago."

There was a shout behind Daniel and he spun around. "We're over here! Over here!"

The shouting hurt Sam's head. The pounding was only intensifying and the heat was starting to get unbearable. Something trickled down her back; she wasn't sure whether it was blood or sweat and to be honest, she didn't really want to know. "Daniel?" She groaned.

"Nearly there Sam." He turned away again. "Come on! Over here!"

Sam's vision was blurring out again. "Daniel!"

"Oh my god." Janet's voice cut through the fog. "Colonel? Sam? Daniel, what the hell happened?"

"Later, Janet. We've got to get them out now."

The metallic whirring of power tools overwhelmed Sam's battered brain and she blacked out. Only when she felt pain so intense that it made her cry out did she jerk awake again. The first thing she heard was a murmured curse. It sounded like Janet.

"Janet?" She mumbled.

"Yeah, Sam. I'm here. I know it hurts but we've got to get you out of this." Janet's voice was coming from below her. "We're just cutting through the metal. You'll be out in a second."

"It hurts, Janet."

"I know, Sam. I know. Just a few more minutes." Janet was almost pleading with her, pleading with her to hold on a little bit longer.

"The Colonel?" Sam was grinding her teeth against the pain but she had to focus on something. "Where is he?"

"We've got him out. He's back on Earth, in surgery."

"How... is he?" Sam gasped as a piece of metal was ripped away from the side of the ship.

Janet glanced up at her. "He's in bad shape. You both are." Sam watched her suck in a breath. "But you'll be alright. You're nearly out."

Sam nodded, her focus drifting.

A moment of whirring and grinding later and Janet stood up. "Okay, Sam. We're going to pull you out."

Sam grimaced at the thought.

"Yeah." Janet nodded. "This is going to hurt, a lot. But you can't sit in there forever."

"Yeah. Let's get on with it."

"Okay," On Janet's word, another medical technician stepped up to her side and Daniel moved to stand at Sam's shoulder. "Okay, we're going to pull you out. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Sam gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. Daniel braced her shoulders as gently as he could and then Janet began to manoeuvre her legs free of the wrecked ship. The pain was indescribable; she didn't even realise that it was her screaming. Daniel's knuckles were white as he and Janet carefully moved Sam out of the wreckage. Seeing Sam in pain was never easy but this was downright unbearable. He almost hoped she'd lose consciousness, just for a brief respite. But Sam had never been one to give up and apparently, she wasn't starting now. His stomach twisted as she screamed again.

"Janet," he stressed, "Are we nearly done?"

Janet didn't reply. With one more wrench, they had her free and the technicians were getting a stretcher underneath her. Thankfully Sam had started to slip into unconsciousness; she was still whimpering but the screams had stopped. Daniel felt bad for the relief he felt.

"Okay," Janet stood up. The stretcher was lifted with her. "Let's go people. Let's move! Get her home."

The first thing Sam was aware of was the sound of beeping. Infirmary then. Unless being dead was very much like the SGC infirmary. She almost smiled at the thought. That definitely would've been the Colonel's hell. Sam's head felt thick. She couldn't think properly. She was sure there was something about the Colonel that she was supposed to remember. Something had happened. She was sure it had. But she just couldn't remember what.

That's when everything collided in her mind. The planet, P7J-499, the ship, the crash. Her eyes flew open and her body would've bolted upright had it not been for the hand on her shoulder. She searched wildly for who was restraining her and when she saw him, Daniel, she relaxed.

"Colonel O'Neill?" Her voice was hoarse; speaking felt as difficult as swallowing sandpaper.

"He's fine. Calm down." Daniel soothed. "Now, lie back down before Janet has me removed."

Sam complied, if only to make sure Daniel told her what had happened while she'd been unconscious. "He's okay?"

"Yes," Daniel confirmed, a small smile on his face. "He's in pretty rough shape – you are too, I might add – but he's doing well."

Sam frowned, trying to remember. "How long have I been out?"

"You've been in a medically induced coma for ten days. Janet decided to bring you off the ventilator and sedatives last night. You had us worried, Sam." Daniel did look worried, and tired. His hair was sticking up in all directions and his eyes were bloodshot.

"I'm sorry." She apologised but Daniel was already shaking his head.

Sam screwed up her face and went back to inventorying her body. Everything was numb, fuzzy. "How bad?"

Daniel winced. "Um, when they cut you out of the ship, you had a fractured skull, dislocated shoulder, broken arm, six broken ribs and your leg was broken in two places. There was internal trauma and bleeding and Janet had to job fixing up your internal organs. You're lucky."

"Janet's a good doctor." Sam replied. She closed her eyes. The time inside the crashed ship was fuzzy but she did remember talking to the Colonel. "How bad is Colonel O'Neill?"

"Pretty similar to you. Janet was worried about some swelling in his brain due to a concussion but it came down pretty quickly. He should be awake some time later today."

Sam sank back onto the pillows, relieved. "What the hell happened?"

"With the ship?" Daniel asked.

Sam nodded.

"R&D are looking at it now. Some 'unforeseen complication' is all their saying at the moment."

"The Colonel's going to be pissed when he wakes up." Sam remarked. "As if he needed another reason to dislike scientists." She yawned. "Why am I tired? I've been unconscious for... how long was it?"

"Ten days." Daniel supplied.

Sam groaned.

"Get some sleep, Sam. You'll be up and around soon enough." Daniel smiled, patted her arm and left quietly.

Sam closed her eyes. She was irritated by how good it felt to slip back into sleep.

"Hey sleepyhead."

The words slowly permeated the fog in Sam's brain. It took her a second to understand what they were. And then she recognised the voice. Her eyes flew open and she sat up sharply. Too sharply. She almost doubled over as pain burst in her stomach and chest.

"I thought I told you not to wake her up." There was some mumbling. "Sam, slow breaths."

Sam obeyed, sucking in air as slowly as she comfortably could.

"That's it. Good girl." Sam finally realised it was Janet's voice.

"I'm sorry." It was the Colonel's voice again.

Sam blinked and dropped back onto the pillows, exhausted. She looked over at the source of the voice. Colonel O'Neill was sitting propped up in bed only six feet away from her. She was almost overwhelmed by the relief she felt to see him alive and relatively well. She smiled. "Hey, Sir."

"Hey Carter. How ya doing?"

"I'm good."

Jack raised his eyebrows at her. Well, as much as he could. A row of temporary stitches was preventing most of his facial movements.

"Good, relatively speaking, Sir." Sam rolled her eyes. "You, sir?"

"Good." He smiled cheekily. "Relatively speaking."

"That's good." Sam smiled and snuggled down in her bed, fully prepared to go back to sleep now that she knew Colonel O'Neill really was fine.


End file.
